Dame Prue Leith to join Paul Hollywood on Great American Baking Show

Dame Prue Leith is to be a judge on the American version of 'The Great British Bake Off'.

The 82-year-old star will join Paul Hollywood on the 'Great American Baking Show' - which her pal has been a part of since 2017 - and will also film a celebrity special, 'The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday Edition', it has been announced.

The programme hasn't aired in the US since January 2020 and Prue's addition to the judging panel came as the show moves from ABC to streaming service The Roku Channel.

The veteran chef previously claimed American's "can't understand" 'The Great British Bake Off' because it is so "quaint".

She said: "All their competition shows are aggressive and competitors diss each other and try to get ahead.

'They can’t understand that 'Bake Off', or 'The Baking Show', has no prize apart from winning.'

Prue replaces American chef Sherry Yard on the show, which is hosted by Anthony Adams and Spice Girls star Emma Bunton.

Prue previously admitted she hates food wastage and gets "really cross" if her cooking goes wrong because of her wartime upbringing.

She said: "I was born in 1940, at the start of the Second World War.

"My family was privileged, but the wartime mentality of ‘waste not, want not’ still prevailed.

"I remember putting a lot of butter on my bread and my father saying, rather tartly, ‘Do you want some bread with your butter?’

"I’ve been anxious not to waste anything ever since.

"If I do, I am very angry with myself. I get really cross if I burn anything."

Prue also thinks it's important to educate young people about the importance of cooking and sustainability.

She explained: "I’ve spent 60 years trying to persuade governments to teach children to love food.

"A great way is to get them to grow vegetables and then cook them, so they are invested in the whole process.

"We have to teach them not only how to cook, but about sustainability. Food education has to be just as important as maths."